STANFORD, Calif. --- Paced by a 3-under 68 by Emilie Burger, the No. 18-ranked Georgia women's golf team posted a 12-over 296 in Thursday's opening round of the NCAA West Regional. The Bulldogs are tied for sixth in the 24-team field at the Stanford University Golf Course.

Burger is second individually and just one shot off the pace of Southern Cal's Annie Park, who shot 4-under 68. The Bulldogs are seven shots behind early leader of No. 7 Vanderbilt, which shot 289.

The 54-hole tournament continues through Saturday. The top eight teams and the top two individuals not among those squads will advance to the NCAA Championships at the University of Georgia Golf Course on May 21-24.

"This golf course is really hard and you're going to make a few mistakes out there," head coach Josh Brewer said. "We played a lot of great golf today but unfortunately we made some mistakes late in the round. We came out here trying to compete for a top spot and that's what I expect us to do. We'll clean up a few things and correct those over the next few days."

Georgia teed off from No. 10 and played the back side of the course first on Friday.

In addition to Burger's 69, the Bulldogs also counted a 75 from Manuela Carbajo Ré, a 76 from Amira Alexander and a 77 from Kailey Walsh, while dropping Rocio Sanchez Lobato's 78. Overall, Carbajo Ré is tied for 46th, Alexander is tied for 63rd, Walsh is tied for 69th and Sanchez Lobato is tied for 77th.

Burger blistered the course early, with a trio of birdies to move to 3-under through three holes.

"This is an intimidating golf course," Burger said. "I decided yesterday that I had to pick targets and aim for those targets. You have to have a lot of trust in the targets you pick, and I decided that was what I was going to do all day today. On No. 10, I hit it within six feet and made my birdie putt. On No. 11, I picked a good target, hit it within 10 feet and made that putt. On 12, I was within six feet and was able to make birdie there also."

Burger moved to 4-under at the turn with a birdie at No. 18 and dropped further into red numbers with a birdie at No. 2. She posted her first bogey of the day at No. 3 but gained that stroke back with a sixth birdie at No. 6. She closed with a double-bogey at No. 9 to finish at 3-under.

"Emilie turned in a huge round of golf for us," Brewer said. "That's what your senior leader is supposed to do. Everyone else was struggling a bit and she picked everyone up. She's been practicing and playing very well over the last month so I was not surprised at all that she played so well. I expect her to continue to lead us over the next couple of days."

The Commodores own a one-shot lead over top-ranked Southern Cal. Fifteen teams are within a dozen shots of Vanderbilt. Following the Women of Troy are No. 12 Purdue at 291; Oregon at 292; No. 19 Baylor at 295; the Bulldogs and South Carolina at 296; Cal at 297; Denver at 299; No. 24 Texas A&M and No. 6 Arizona at 300; and LSU, No. 14 Stanford, San Jose State and Ohio State all at 301.

Tee times will flip on Friday, with the top-12 seeds playing in the afternoon wave. Georgia will again be paired with Stanford and Purdue, teeing off from No. 1 beginning at 3:56 p.m. ET.